Research School in Biosystematics – ForBioTromsø
The 3
rd
DNA Metabarcoding spring school in Tromsø
Eric Coissac, Sergei Drovetski, Inger Greve Alsos, Nigel Yoccoz March 30th
– April 5th
Air biodiversity: a high throughput plant species
identification on environmental DNA
Cleopatra Leontidou∗1, Cristiano Vernesi2, and Antonella Cristofori†1,2 1Fondazione Edmund Mach, via Edmund Mach 1, San Michele all’ Adige,
Trento, Italy
The aerobiological spectrum is characterized by different types of biological particles (pollens, spores, bacteria, etc.), with a variability linked to site and environmental factors. Data on airborne pollen reflect differences in the species composition of the local flora and may capture the spreading of alien species. The air biomonitoring may also detect the flowering season of anemophilous taxa as well as the reproductive response of plants to environmental changes at a temporal and spatial scale.
Aim of this research is to characterize the air biodiversity of different ecosystems through a DNA-based metabarcode analysis applied on complex air samples. The metabar-coding of environmental DNA will allow the taxonomic identification based on specific genetic markers, leading to an estimation of the biodiversity.
Since loss in biodiversity can endanger ecosystem health, natural ecosystems of dif-ferent vegetation zones will be selected on the basis of their putative degradation and invasion by alien species, such as Ambrosia (ragweed), to highlight differences in species composition and richness.
∗Electronic address: [email protected]; Speaker †
Electronic address: [email protected]
